Friday, February 20, 2009

Join the Rebellyon


Thanks to my friend Erik for sending me a link to this story about musician Amanda Palmer, whose record label, Roadrunner, told her that her stomach looked too fat in a new music video and that they needed to digitally slim it down.

Palmer's response: Love thy belly. Her fans jumped on the belly wagon, creating a "rebellyon" that includes a website where you can upload a photo of your own belly, inscribed with a message to the world.

This story is interesting both for its element of cultural body dissing and for its feminist subtext: Apparently one of the record label execs told Palmer, "I'm a guy. I know what people like."

Yeah, I'm a woman. I don't know what people like. I don't know what my own body looks like. And I sure as hell don't know why I'd ever buy another Roadrunner record. Except, of course, for Palmer's latest.

4 comments:

Rachel said...

That's great! Thanks for sharing the link.

Ari J. Brattkus said...

Her video for the song Oasis is generating quite a bit of controversy as well -- it is a very funny, some say, flippant and inappropriate -- song about date rape.

Here is a link to the video on you tube:

http://tinyurl.com/baqd26

Harriet said...

Thanks for the link, Erica!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful young woman standing up for herself!